Athletes’ rights will be protected at Olympics

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Thursday that athletes’ rights will be protected at next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, but that a controversial anti-gay law will remain in place.

“All the interests and rights will be protected,’’ Mutko told a news conference ahead of the world athletics championships, which start on Saturday in Moscow.

Mutko asked for everyone to `calm down’ over the issue that has made big waves for the past weeks, saying that “athletes and sports organisations should be relaxed.’’

“In addition to this law, we have a constitution that guarantees privacy rights. The law is not intended to deprive people of religion, race and sexual orientation,’’ he said.

Russia has enacted a federal law that bans propaganda of “non-traditional sexual orientation’’ to minors. The law stipulates that foreigners can be arrested and deported if convicted of violating it.

The Aug. 10 to Aug. 18 athletics world championships — bringing together almost 2,000 athletes from 206 countries – are the first of several major sporting events in Russia, to be followed by the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 football World Cup. The bill triggered international outrage, and some activists have even called for boycotting the Olympics.